View Full Version : Vuelta - does anyone care?
The tour of Spain, third of the three Grand Tours is underway. With no Armstrong there is very little coverage available in the US. Just in case there is at least one other person out there who cares "Ali-jet" is looking strong:
Petacchi grabs another at Vuelta; McGee keeps lead
AUGUST 30 - Two sprints and two victories for Alessandro Petacchi. This might be the Vuelta a España, but for the top sprinters taking part in the 232km fourth stage, the 2005 Vuelta’s longest stage played out as a preview for the September 25 road world championships in Madrid
d-o-b
08-30-2005, 10:22 PM
The Vuelta and the Giro are not the same as it use to be..... everybody focus on the Tour now...
To some extent that is Armstrong's fault as he was one of the first to specialize in the TdF at the expense of the other races. I think without the Lance factor, even the TdF coverage and interest will fall off in the US. Locally the Trek bike dealers will probably see sales tail off.
The Vuelta and the Giro are not the same as it use to be..... everybody focus on the Tour now...
75 km American Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong with US Postal says enough is enough and quits the race.
18 km Going back to the retirement of Phonak star Floyd Landis, his team director Jacques Michaud told Eurosport: "Morally, he had cracked. He had lost it in his head". Landis began the day in 92nd place, 8min 13secs adrift of race leader Bradley McGee
Heras clinches record fourth Vuelta as Petacchi claims finale
Four-time Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras has put the golden bicycle he used for his triumphant ride into Madrid this year up for auction on eBay's Spanish web site with hopes of raising money to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.
Heras, who won his fourth Vuelta on September 18, rode a special edition carbon frame from BH with gold-highlighted components into Madrid on the final stage of the Spanish tour.
Bidding began at 1.00 euro on Friday, with early estimates suggesting a final price of around 18,000 euros, but bids had already reached 11,800 euros after just five hours. The ten-day auction will end on October 17, with all of the proceeds going to Katrina relief efforts.
Heras, who won the Vuelta in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005, was inspired by the recent eBay auction of the rackets used by Roger Federer and Andre Agassi in the final of the U.S. Open. The rackets brought in a total of $40,000, all of which was turned over to the relief effort.
The Congressional Budget Office, on Thursday, estimated the total recovery costs associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could exceed $200 billion.
Heras bike goes for 24K
The online auction of Roberto Heras's winning bike from the 2005 Vuelta a España has netted 24,600 euros (about $29,400) to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Heras made history this year by taking a record fourth Vuelta title after a dramatic battle in the Cantabria Mountains of northern Spain.
It turns out the winning bid was made by Liberty Seguros-Würth team manager Manolo Saiz, who said he will display the bicycle in a museum at the headquarters of team co-sponsor Würth.
"The idea wasn't to get Roberto's bike at any price, but I had the idea I was only going to leave it to someone else at a very high price," Saiz said. "The most important thing is that we raised money for the hurricane victims and that we're going to keep the bike for sentimental reasons for everyone at the team."
Heras sold the bike on eBay's Spanish web site and nearly matched the online auction record price of 28,050 euros that was garnered for a soccer ball that David Beckham made a scoring goal.
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